A Truth Too Terrible
by Raven of the Shadows
Summary: It is Christmas eve. She is out in the Diagon Alley with her father when she Sees it happening.


**A Truth Too Terrible**

"Daddy, there!"

Her father looked at where she was pointing and frowned. "That is a very bad infestation, isn't it?"

Luna nodded, deciding to ask Santa to take the Wrackspurts nest out of the poor man's head. She turned back to scanning the crowd for other invisible creatures. She and her father could see them only because of a potion her mother had made. Today, they were here in Diagon Alley to get some ingredients for the counter to that potion.

"There," her father pointed, and Luna's eyes widened. Did that shopkeeper not know that the nargles infested the mistletoe? She voiced the question to her father, who told her they didn't, because they didn't believe in what they couldn't see. Luna frowned. Well, they were stupid!

Luna and her father were playing this game to see who could spot out most creatures. So far, Luna was winning. She had even discovered two new ones her mother had not shown them before. Then, a thought occurred in her head. "Daddy, you are intentionally letting me win, aren't you?"

Xenophilius looked at his daughter and a smile tugged at his lips. She was just nine, but she perceptive and was very intelligent. Pandora had always said she was going to be a Ravenclaw. Xeno agreed. "No, dear," he said. "Let's go to the apothecary, shall we? Your Mum would be waiting for us to get home."

Luna smiled brightly and nodded. The Alley and decorated for Christmas and looked beautiful, but she couldn't wait to get home. It was Christmas Eve. They had stockings to hang and gifts to place under the tree. She and her mother were also going to make cookies for the Santa! She took her father's hand and started pulling him through the crowd faster. He laughed.

Just as they reached the store, Luna stopped. Xeno looked at her questioningly. Her eyes were staring into the distance, and a pained expression crept on her face. Xeno was slightly worried. At times, his daughter could See the events before they happened. "Wha—"

The familiar sensation of being pulled through a very tight rubber tube came over him. They were standing just a few yards away from their home. Music was playing, and Xeno couldn't help but smile. Pandora was still in the potions lab.

Xeno looked at his daughter, proud that she had accomplished such a difficult magical feat at nine, but confused as to why she had apparated them home. Before he could ask her, she let go of his hand and started running towards the house.

"Lu—"

His wife screamed from inside the house and Xeno looked up in alarm.

 _BOOM!_

The time slowed. Xeno felt his limbs go numb, watching in horror as the walls of his house were torn apart. The roof of the potions laboratory crumbled, and Xeno fell to his knees.

 _Pandora!_

She was in there. He stood up and ran towards the house. Luna was already there, staring at the wreckage in horror. Xeno dropped to his knees and started digging through the rubble with his bare hands. His ears were starving to hear some sound, any sound, of his wife.

He picked up another huge slab of cement and threw it away. The body of his wife came into view, and Xeno felt his blood run cold. There was blood… so much blood. In her scarlet robes, with blood spilling out of the gashes on her face and arms, she looked lifeless. But she couldn't be… No! She was still alive, he told himself.

He picked Pandora's limp form up and walked towards the garden. Laying her down on the soft grass, he started checking for the vitals. Somewhere behind him, two people appeared with small pops and walked up to where he was kneeling next to his wife. One of them introduced himself as an officer from Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. The other was a Healer.

The Healer kneeled next to him, waving his wand in complicated patterns. He turned to Xeno, a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Mr Lovegood."

Xeno heard someone screaming as he fell to the ground. A minute later, he realised it he was the one screaming. "No!" he cried, cradling Pandora's head in his lap. "I love you, Pandora."

Luna was in shock. She stared at the broken form of her mother, her eyes full of sorrow. She had heard what the Healer had said, and she knew. She knew that her mother would never wake up again. That her mother would never brew potions, would never bake cookies with her, would never tell her stories. That her mother was _gone_. With shaky steps, she walked to where her father was sitting on the ground, crying. She had never seen him cry before.

Xeno felt a small hand on his arm and turned. His already shattered heart was crushed when he saw tears in his child's eyes. He wrapped his arm around her, feeling devastated when she didn't say anything. Like she knew what had happened. In this minute, Xeno hated the fact that his daughter was so mature.

They sat there together. For how long, Xeno did not know. From the ruins, Pandora's music box was still going, repeating one song over and over.

' _Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree  
Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me'_

Xeno had never hated music so much.

Then, Luna spoke up, startling him out of his reverie.

"Daddy, is Santa real?" Xeno was stumped by her question. Before he could speak, she ran towards what was left of their house. He could see her climb the stairway from the gap in the wall. He was too consumed with his own thoughts to stop her.

Minutes later, she returned. She held a stocking in one hand and writing instruments in the other. Flopping on her ground, she started writing: "Dear Santa, for this Christmas, please return my Mummy."

Xeno's heart broke all over. He watched as she folded the parchment and stuffed it into the stocking. Her small body was shaking as she sobbed, but when she then turned to him, her wide eyes were full of hope. "Santa is real, Daddy. Isn't he?"

Xeno couldn't answer. For the truth was terrible. Far too terrible.

 **o§o**

* * *

 **Word Count:** 1058

 **Prompts used:**

From Nativity Play

• Mary: (scenario) Child asking parents if Santa is real/Having to have the Santa is not real discussion  
• Luna Lovegood

From Yule in Skammdegi

• Write about death during the winter months. Someone dying, someone spending their first Christmas without someone etc.  
• Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley

From the Not So Perfect Christmas Challenge

• A Christmas holiday death  
• Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley  
• A Christmas song (just one) stuck on repeat

From Chocolate Frog Card Club

• (Bronze) Podric Piles — Prompts: Scarlet, Game, Stockings, Stairway


End file.
